Fort Worth improv comedy troupe finds new home after losing lease in Sundance Square
July 10,2024
See full Fort Worth Star-Telegram article by Harrison Mantas here.
Fort Worth’s longest running improv comedy troupe Four Day Weekend has a new home.
The group announced Wednesday it will be moving to the Stage West Theatre in the Near Southside after its current landlord Sundance Square declined to renew its lease in May.
“This is a great collaboration between two well-known brands in the Fort Worth community and ensures our performances continue uninterrupted for our fans,” said co-founder David Wilk in a press release.
The company will have its last show at its current venue at 312 Houston St. on July 26 before hosting its inaugural show at Stage West at 821 W Vickery Blvd. on Aug. 3, according to the press release.
“It feels a lot like Christmas and getting a shiny new toy!” Wilk said in the press release. “We can hardly wait to move into the theatre to make people laugh, while making new friends and seeing old acquaintances.”
Four Day Weekend had been performing at the Houston Street location for nearly three decades.
Wilk told the Star-Telegram in May the company had been on a month-to-month lease since 2020 and had very little communication with its landlord.
It was only after Reata announced it was leaving its Sundance Square location in March 2022 that Wilk began to worry about his company’s future.
“I knew we might be on the chopping block because Reata was leaving, so every couple months I would reach out to just check the status,” he said, adding he’d heard rumors Sundance would eventually not renew the lease.
Wilk said he wasn’t given an explanation about why the lease wasn’t being renewed — just a notification in May that it would expire at the end of July.
“I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what the master plan is. I just know we’re not part of it,” he said.
Representatives from Sundance Square did not immediately respond to an email from the Star-Telegram requesting comment.
After Four Day Weekend lost its downtown location, it only made sense it should move to the Near Southside, said Stage West Executive Producer Dana Schultes in the press release.
A thriving arts scene makes Fort Worth better, she said, adding that it was “a no-brainer on our part to extend a helping hand to a fellow Fort Worth arts institution.”
Four Day Weekend’s downtown location has meant so much to the company, said Emily Zawisza, a cast member and director of corporate sales in an interview with the Star-Telegram in May.
She recalled how audience members would make the show the centerpiece of a weekend date night after paying for a babysitter, getting a meal at Reata and going out for drinks after.
“We don’t take it lightly that people really invest in the experience, and to be the center part of that entertainment has meant so much to us,” she said.
The company’s history in downtown makes it crazy to think of it not being in Sundance Square, she said, but noted Four Day Weekend will be able to bring that same experience to its new location.
“We’ve had 27 years of an audience that has really cared for us and supported us, and a community around Fort Worth that’s been incredible, and we’ll just continue to move forward,” she said.
Locations Mentioned: Four Day Weekend, Reata Restaurant